Branding and The Web
July 14, 2004 | 
8 Comments
I’ve always been interested in branding and from a practical, hands-on perspective I do know quite a bit about online branding. I’ve spent quite a bit of time, almost my whole “Web” career, in (or working closely with) marketing departments who’ve been focusing on either developing an new brand (Connexion by Boeing, Punch Networks, Learn) or revitalizing an existing brand (Children’s, Saltmine).
Having been a pretty big part in the actual implementation of brand strategy, I’ve had a strong interest in what comes before it gets to me, the strategic part of branding, and I’ve got a very healthy interest (I’m becoming more and more interested as time goes on) in brand experience and the hows and whys of brand development on the Web.
Here at Asterisk* I’ve dabbled with the idea of personal branding, and I plan on doing more as I learn more. I’ve tried to concentrate on things I value in a brand: a sense of belonging, a personal connection, a perception of trust, hard work and competence. I suppose it could be debated how well I’ve been able to do this, but the goal for me here is to learn.
Learn, and share my experiences with all of you!
Speaking of sharing, I wanted to point y’all in the direction of two great articles on branding that went live today over at Digital Web:
Both are very great commentaries on building and maintaining a brand on the Web. You can imagine my excitement when they came across my desk. I’ve been hoping for more of these kinds of articles for Digital Web!
They’re also both speaking a Web Visions and I’m really looking forward to that.
If you’re interested in branding — stay tuned! As I mentioned I’m going to be exploring the topic of branding quite a bit here, as well as doing a bit to re-think and re-work my own personal brand. It should be fun and I look forward to getting you’re thoughts on the topic.
Filed under: Web General
Comments
1. dez said:
Look forward to your take on this Keith. My thinking on this topic has taken a few leaps forward and in a completely different direction since I read Lovemarks by Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi and Saatchi.
In short Lovemarks are tagged as the future beyond brands where the aim is to make lasting, emotional connections that invoke loyalty beyond reason.
Lovemarks website:
http://www.lovemarks.com/
Related articles from Fast Company:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/84/love.html
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/38/roberts.html
Posted on July 15, 2004 01:53 AM | #
2. Ryan Saghir said:
It’d be interesting to see what you come up with, especially in terms of a Personal Brand. It’s very difficult to define oneself in a way that the public will actually react to - while still positioning yourself in the way that you’re happy with as well (we are, afterall, our own worst client).
Branding is the essentially the emotional connection that people make with you. Very hard to define that as it’s so subjective.
Posted on July 15, 2004 02:05 AM | #
3. Irfandhy Franciscus said:
I always feel that branding is a very important yet tricky concept to implement.
How do you differentate your product from the others , and how do you make your customer keep wanting to come back and actually make a productive interaction with your product ?
I definitely will tune in to the discussion.
By the way is it possible to post some of your discussion in WebVision in Asterisk*
^_______^
Posted on July 15, 2004 03:49 AM | #
4. jake said:
I think it’s great that you’re delving into this realm. Branding interest me too, but more from a corporate perspective. I guess I’m going down the same path and haven’t gotten as far as you Keith. Right now the first thing that comes to mind about personal branding is Prince and the symbol shennanigans of the late 90’s. :)
Posted on July 15, 2004 07:27 AM | #
5. jek said:
Look into Tom Peters’ early work on branding. Great, great stuff. I suggest ignoring anything from him published in the ’90s unless you want the self-help angle.
Posted on July 15, 2004 10:33 AM | #
6. JC said:
personal branding? doesn’t that hurt? I don’t think I could stand that… and what does it have to do with business? oh… wait.. *that* branding. :-)
all kidding aside… thanks for the links. Interesting stuff.
Posted on July 15, 2004 01:10 PM | #
7. sTEVEN sTREIGHT said:
I think of branding in the literal, physical sense: what is burned into your consciousness as you use the product.
How is it burned, like a branding iron, as you use or interact with it?
If I buy a Cadillac, and it falls apart, performs lousy, or otherwise disappoints me, that experience is branded into my consciousness.
So, no matter what slogans, images, marketing strategy, memorable commercials, etc. are used by Cadillac to influence me favorably, my actual usage of their product has been branded into my consciousness: Cadillacs are garbage, I conclude.
We’re right back to usability, functional excellance, modifiability, etc.–all those pragmatic concerns.
The “brand” is what is burned into my mind via usage of the product.
Posted on July 16, 2004 09:29 PM | #
8. Julianne said:
Marketingprofs.com has a decent article on personal branding: http://www.marketingprofs.com/2/arruda2.asp, although registration is required (they have a lot of other marketing info that I’ve found pretty helpful).
Posted on July 20, 2004 11:17 AM | #
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